Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Drawn and Quarterly in recent years has been releasing hardcover translations of manga by Yoshihiro Tatsumi ("The Pushman and other stories", "Abandon the Old in Tokyo") . Everytime I see a Tatsumi book though I can't help wondering why no one has done the same for Yoshiharu Tsuge's works.

The stories that I've managed to find by Tsuge ("Screw Style" and "Oba's Electroplate Factory") were amazing, certainly for me much more engaging than the Tatsumi stories I've read. So it's a shame his works are so hard to find in English. The man doesn't even seem to have a proper entry in wikipedia! :-o

Perhaps one day soon. Maybe I should be talking to people to get it off the ground :p

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

From the sounds of this, I wasn't far off in my understanding of the problem :p ... as Lessig puts it:

"The solution before Congress, however, is both unfair and unwise. The bill would excuse copyright infringers from significant damages if they can prove that they made a “diligent effort” to find the copyright owner. A “diligent effort” is defined as one that is “reasonable and appropriate,” as determined by a set of “best practices” maintained by the government.

But precisely what must be done by either the “infringer” or the copyright owner seeking to avoid infringement is not specified upfront. The bill instead would have us rely on a class of copyright experts who would advise or be employed by libraries. These experts would encourage copyright infringement by assuring that the costs of infringement are not too great. The bill makes no distinction between old and new works, or between foreign and domestic works. All work, whether old or new, whether created in America or Ukraine, is governed by the same slippery standard."

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Sonny Liew is a Eisner-nominated comic artist and illustrator whose work include titles for DC Vertigo, Marvel, SLG and Disney, along with the Xeric-awarded Malinky Robot. He currently resides in Singapore, where he sleeps with the fishes.